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Darth Traya
Darth Traya, also known as Kreia at the time of her birth, is the main antagonist of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. She was once a renowned Jedi Master responsible for teaching Revan the ways of the Force, her student's fall to the Dark Side led the Council to denounce Kreia as a corrupting influence and exile her from the Jedi Order. This fall from grace led her to eventually fall to the Dark Side herself, eventually forming a new Sith Triumvirate alongside Darth Sion and Darth Nihilus; however, these new apprentices eventually turned on her, severing her connection to the Force and exiling her from the Sith. At the start of the game, Kreia serves as an ally and teacher to the player, a fellow exile from the Jedi Order (canonically known as Meetra Surik). However, though she will openly reveal her past as Revan's former master and a Sith Lord if correctly prompted, it's clear that the enigmatic former Jedi is pursuing an agenda of her own. She is voiced by Sara Kestelman. History The Lesson of Betrayal Kreia's life is shrouded in mystery, as she herself probably prefers it, an enigma only worsened by the fact that the most readily-accessible source of information on the subject is Kreia herself. However, one of the few confirmed facts about her past is that she was once a Jedi: one of the Order's historians, she toiled for decades to uncover and study the relics of ancient Jedi, though she often found that her research raised more questions than it answered. Ultimately, it was her career as a master and tutor that was to make her infamous within the ranks of the Jedi: in her time, she trained many students in the ways of the Force, challenging her students with extremely difficult questions regarding the nature of the Force, the Jedi and the Galaxy at large - often dubbed "Kreia's Conundrums" by her colleagues. Though undeniably effective, her teachings regarding morality were regarded as unorthodox and potentially hazardous by more conservative Jedi, in particular Council member and fellow historian Atris. One of Kreia's most notable students was none other than Revan , who trained as her padawan learner for some years before eventually rounding out his education under other masters. However, when the Mandalorian Wars broke out across the galaxy, Revan consulted Kreia one last time for advice concerning the Jedi Council's noninterference policy; soon after, he went on to defy the Council by joining the Republic's war effort against the Mandalorians. Inspired by his example, countless Jedi followed him to the battlefield, including many of Kreia's students. Many of these Jedi fell to the Dark Side of the Force as a result of their experiences, and many more simply abandoned their training entirely; as a result, the Council finally denounced Kreia's teachings as harmful and corrupting, ultimately having her exiled from the Jedi Order entirely. Soon after, Kreia vanished, and many of her former colleagues believed that she had followed her pupil to war and died. In reality, she was simply in search of answers to deeply-buried questions. The war ended with the final battle at Malachor V, in which a Jedi general loyal to Revan ordered the use of a device known as the Mass Shadow Generator to obliterate the Mandalorian aggressors - killing thousands of Revan's own allies and leaving countless more traumatized for life, including the general who gave the order (who was eventually exiled from the Order following the end of the war). Not long after this decisive victory, Revan fell to the Dark Side of the Force, and turned upon the galaxy he had once defended with an army of Sith at his side. Following the destruction of the Sith threat in Knights of the Old Republic, ''Kreia's search for answers led her to Malachor V, where she found the Trayus Academy hidden deep within the ruins of the devastated planet: a powerful nexus of the Dark Side, Revan had used this place to train Sith assassins during his war against the Republic, and many of the ancient texts he had studied over the course of his descent into corruption still remained within the ancient edifice. Fascinated, Kreia studied these records in the hope of understanding her apprentice's decisions; unfortunately, she came to understand them too well, and eventually fell to the Dark Side, adopting the name Darth Traya. Intent on rebuilding Revan's empire, she recruited the Sith troops that remained in the aftermath of the war, gathering them into a small but effective army; over time, she learned her apprentice's technique of converting individuals to the Dark Side through wounds in the Force, allowing her to acquire Force-sensitives to make into Sith assassins at the Academy. Searching for more such wounds, Traya found Darth Sion and Darth Nihilus - a living wound in the Force created by the cataclysm at Malachor V; adopting the two warped Sith as her apprentices, she taught them much of the Dark Side, even tutoring Nihilus on how to feed the monstrous hunger his new state of being had granted him. Together, they formed a triumvirate that was to rule over their new Sith Empire: Darth Traya, the master and "Lord of Betrayal"; Darth Nihilus, the "Lord of Hunger" and devourer of worlds; and Darth Sion, "Lord of Pain" and leader of the empire's forces in battle. Unfortunately, though they were ostensibly united in their hatred of the Jedi, the Triumvirate soon became divided in motive: where Sion only wished to inflict his pain and wrath on the rest of the galaxy and Nihilus thought only of sating his endless hunger, Traya came to believe that their true enemy was not the Jedi, but the Force itself. She envisioned the Force as a manipulative, amoral god responsible for all the conflict that had occurred between Jedi and Sith over the millennia, all in pursuit of "balance," and even came to believe that it was her mission to destroy the Force once and for all. Eventually, this difference of opinion led Sion and Nihilus to turn on their master: cutting her off from the Force, they beat the elderly Sith into submission and exiled her from the empire she'd once ruled. In Search of The Exile While her fellow Sith waged a war of extermination against the Jedi, their former master took on the name of Kreia once more and began searching the galaxy for some means of enacting her ambition to destroy the Force. Venturing into Republic Space, the activities of the Jedi general who had ordered the use of the Mass Shadow Generator caught her attention: now known simply as the Exile (canonically named Meetra Surik), this unfortunate ex-Jedi had spent many years wandering the galaxy in the aftermath of the civil war, apparently deaf to the Force; however, her connection to the Force had not merely been severed as was the case with Kreia, but thanks to her exposure to the cataclysm at Malachor V, she had become a living wound in the Force much like Darth Nihilus. Combined with the Exile's natural gift for forming Force Bonds with others, Kreia came to believe this could be used to create an echo in the Force, one powerful enough to deafen the entire Galaxy to its will. At present, the Exile was living out her days in obscurity on the Outer Rim of the galaxy; however, the Republic had become aware of her presence, and with many Jedi having either died, converted or simply vanished, she quickly became a valuable asset: on the orders of Admiral Carth Onasi, the warship ''Harbinger was sent to retrieve the Exile and bring her to Telos IV. Unfortunately, the Republic's pursuit of the Exile drew unwanted attention from both the Sith and the crime lord Goto, who both set out to either secure or eliminate the Jedi by any means available to them. Goto struck first, sending a HK-50 assassin droid to infiltrate the crew in the guise of a protocol droid and capture the Exile; Kreia, however, had acquired the Ebon Hawk and issued a distress call not far away - knowing that the freighter's close association with the redeemed Revan would naturally draw the Republic warship's attention. However, Darth Sion used this as an opportunity to set a trap: sending a Sith warship into the area, he pretended that their ship was disabled and allowed the Harbinger to board them; with Sion playing dead and the crew of Sith assassins effectively invisible, the Republic troops unwittingly gave their enemy a perfect chance to sneak aboard. Fortunately, Kreia was also aboard, having played a similar trick once the Ebon Hawk ''had been boarded. Once again, though, the HK-50 made the first decisive move: during an automated medical examination, he altered the medical equipment's programming to sedate the Exile, allowing him to stash her in the cargo hold for later retrieval; then, he sabotaged the ''Harbinger itself, causing a cascade failure in the ship's engines and leaving it helpless in space while the droid left with his prize. However, Sion chose that moment to attack, bursting out of a kolto tank in the medical bay and leading the assassins in a massacre of the crew. In the confusion that followed, Kreia was able to rescue the Exile from the hold and bring her aboard the Ebon Hawk; unknown to them, HK-50 followed and concealed himself aboard. Doubly unfortunately, the Sith seized control of Harbinger and restored just enough of its weapons systems to open fire on the fleeing ship as it made the jump to hyperspace. Effectively crippled, the Ebon Hawk was left adrift on the edge of the Peragus asteroid belt until T3-M4 was able to make rudimentary repairs and get the ship as far as the nearby mining facility; however, while Kreia and the Exile remained comatose, the two unconsciously reached out to each other through the Force, forming a symbiotic bond - one that allowed Kreia to recover her ability to use the Force. Upon their arrival at Peragus, Kreia was believed dead; in reality, she was simply in a hibernation trance, allowing her to recover in peace. However, while she recuperated in the morgue and the Exile remained unconscious in the medical bay, Peragus swiftly descended into anarchy as HK-50 turned the mining droids against their supervisors. By the time the Exile regained consciousness, every organic in the facility was dead except for herself, Kreia and the recently-imprisoned Atton Rand. Events of the Game Introducing herself to the Exile shortly after she regains consciousness, Kreia remains in the background for much of the player's time on Peragus, observing the Exile and advising her as she recovers her ability to wield the Force, finds a way to the Ebon Hawk, and frees Atton. Unfortunately, though the three of them are able to destroy HK-50, they are quickly delayed from escaping by the arrival of the Harbinger; in an attempt to buy some time for the Exile to escape, Kreia remains behind to confront Sion, a standoff that ends with her former apprentice slicing her left hand off. Fortunately, she is able to escape and rejoin the others aboard the Ebon Hawk, where the party is able to escape to Telos IV. However, the pain the Exile felt at the moment she lost her hand allows Kreia to convince the ex-Jedi that the Force-bond they share could be fatal, encouraging her to keep the mysterious Force-wielder by her side; in turn, Kreia uses this as an opportunity to tutor the Exile in the deeper mysteries of the Force. Following a run-in with Atris, now running an academy on Telos as the self-styled "last of the Jedi," Kreia is able to trick the Exile into thinking that the Jedi Council severed her connection to the Force as punishment for her participation in the Mandalorian Wars; in reality, the Exile subconsciously deafened herself to the Force in order to survive the trauma at Malachor. Nonetheless, this lie is enough to send the Exile on a quest to find the lost Jedi Masters in the hope that they might be able to explain what happened (or, in the case of Dark-Side players, for a chance to take revenge on them). Along the way, Kreia uses their travels as a means of teaching the Exile her distinctly pragmatic view on morality, demonstrating approval for manipulative decisions with long-term benefits while disapproving of both Light-sided charity and Dark-sided cruelty. Over the course of the quest, the Exile begins acquiring allies, many of whom are also Force-sensitive and eventually decide to learn the ways of the Force from her; however, Kreia takes great delight in manipulating these characters for her own ends. In one case, she reads Atton's mind and learns of his past as a Sith torturer, then uses the information to blackmail him into serving her interests; in another case, she alters the Disciple's perceptions of reality so he can't even notice her, and when he actually manages to discover the scope of her plans, Kreia simply erases his memory of what he'd realized. Should the Exile begin falling to the Dark Side, Bao-Dur will attempt to throw her off the ship - only for Kreia to assault him with memories of the part he played in creating and activating the Mass-Shadow Generator. In deleted content, she is even able to use the Handmaiden's unrequited love for the Exile to turn her against fellow party member Visas Marr in a fit of jealousy. Over the course of their time together, the Exile and Kreia journey to Nar-Shaddaa, Dantooine, and Onderon in search of Jedi Masters Vrook, Kavar and Zez-Kai Ell: if Light-aligned, the Exile will merely question the masters and learn the truth peacefully, while improving the three planets along the way - the suffering of the refugees on Nar-Shaddaa eased, Dantooine's farmers free to continue rebuilding, and Onderon's civil war ended with its ties to the Republic intact; however, if Dark-sided, the Exile will kill all three masters over the course of extended battles and leave their haven planets far worse off. In all cases, Kreia continues manipulating events from behind the scenes - most notably by reviving Colonel Tobin in the aftermath of the Onderon Civil War and tricking him into supplying Darth Nihilus with information on a fictitious group of Jedi hiding on Telos IV, knowing that this bait would be too much for the Lord of Hunger to resist. Soon after, Light-sided players return to the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine to discuss the Sith threat with the Jedi Masters; however, the Jedi have come to believe that the Exile's nature as a wound in the Force makes her even more dangerous than the Sith, and decide to cut her off from the Force. Enraged by the Council's lack of vision, Kreia arrives on the scene to rescue the Exile: after lambasting the Masters for their lack of vision, she drains their connection to the Force in order to show them what the Exile has experienced - killing them in the progress. However, Dark-sided players are instructed by Kreia to return to Dantooine to confront the last of the Jedi - only to find themselves facing an empty chamber, as the Jedi Order is now extinct. Kreia asks the Exile if slaying the Council calmed her rage: the answer is invariably no. Realizing that her final student has failed her, Kreia drains the life from the Exile and leaves her half-dead in the ruins of the Enclave, proclaiming that to have the Jedi brought low by such a mindless killer is no victory at all. In both iterations, Kreia dons the identity of Darth Traya once more and then leaves the unconscious Exile lying unconscious in the grass. Accompanied by the Handmaiden, she departs for Telos IV, where she completes Atris' journey to the Dark Side of the Force by revealing the true extent of her corruption; then, she returns to Malachor V, taking over Trayus Academy and forcibly retaking Sion as her apprentice. Meanwhile, as Traya intended, the Exile deals with both threats as they appear: first, she is able to either kill, incarcerate or redeem the fallen Atris; then, when Nihilus arrives in orbit over Telos, the Exile is able to team up with Visas Marr in order to destroy him once and for all. Prophecy and Death Soon after the death of Darth Nihilus, the Exile follows Traya to Malachor, where her former tutor is planning to use the wound at the heart of the planet to destroy the Force once and for all. However, after fighting through the army of Sith assassins and finally convincing Darth Sion to surrender himself to death, the Exile arrives to confront Traya before she can complete her task. Regardless of the Exile's alignment, the Exile and Traya then fight a lightsaber duel for the fate of the galaxy, one that ends with the Sith Lord's remaining hand being severed. When the Exile refuses to land the killing blow, Traya forces her hand by telekinetically animating three lightsabres and attacking her with them, ultimately leaving her one-time tutor fatally wounded. A Light-aligned Exile will attempt to save Traya, who reveals that she already has: even if the Force has not been destroyed, she has ensured that the Jedi Order will be rebuilt on the teachings of the Exile - who is not a true Jedi. Regardless of alignment, she will admit her love for the Exile as her greatest student, Traya decides to reward the Exile with a gift by using the power of Malachor to reveal the future to her: the Exile can ask the fate of the Jedi, the Republic, the upcoming war that Revan went to face, the Exile's companions and the future of all the planets they had visited together; Traya will answer each question truthfully and honestly, ending her final meeting by suggesting that the Exile should follow Revan's path once again. Then, she dies, her body being cremated in Malachor's core soon afterwards. Trivia *The character is partially inspired by Ravel Puzzlewell From Planescape Torment. 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